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KRUSEMAN STEALS TULARE THUNDER |
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TULARE, CA, JUNE 14, 2003 - For nine seasons, Cory Kruseman was a fixture in Harlan Willis' car and drove to 56 NAPA Auto Parts / Auto Trader Magazines SCRA main event wins. Making only his seventh start in the Cory Witherill / WSA Health Care #61 TCR, Kruseman gave the team their first ever SCRA win Saturday at the Thunderbowl Raceway after withstanding several late race challenges, including a few from his old ride. "Anytime you can come out here and win with the SCRA it's great. I just won my first race for Tony Stewart about three weeks ago at Lawrenceburg (IN) Speedway and that was pretty nice too, Kruseman said. "I have to thank Cory Witherill, Dennis Hart and Jimmy May for doing a fantastic job tonight, and they definitely gave me a nice race car." Interestingly, Kruseman hadn't planned on participating in the Thunderbowl event, but circumstances in the Midwest, where he has been spending most of his time racing this season, combined with commitments at his driving school in Ventura, resulted in his unexpected appearance. "We were supposed to run a midget at Terre Haute (IN) last night, but it was pouring down rain. Then, I was supposed to run a Silver Crown race tonight, but things didn't work out to where we could do it, so I decided to come home early since my driving school has classes coming up. I had about 50 friends and family members show up tonight and this is a great way to come home." Steve Ostling showed everyone the way home in the JE Pistons Dash and earned the pole for the 30-lap main event. Ostling raced outside front row starter Danny Sheridan even to the green flag before darting ahead of the field in turn one. Sheridan nearly collected the turn one wall and would lose positions to Damion Gardner and Rickie Gaunt. The first caution flag of the race came on lap four, after Adam Mitchell spun and was hit hard by Gary W. Howard in turn four. Before spinning, Mitchell made contact with Richard Griffin, who was fortunate not to become further involved in the incident. Griffin wouldn't be so lucky on the restart and would be forced to slide to a stop after a turn-two tangle between Kevin Urton and Alan Ballard left him nowhere to go. Moments after Jimmy Crawford had bounced off Griffin's car, Troy Rutherford touched wheels with another car and flipped in turn three. Of the cars involved in the three incidents, only Urton, who was later named the recipient of the Hedman Hedders Hard-luck Award, was unable to restart. Griffin and Rutherford would return to the race to finish ninth and tenth respectively. Ostling pushed wide in turn one on the restart and briefly relinquished the lead to the Harlan Willis / TCR Performance #45 driven by Gardner. Diving down off the banking, Ostling darted under Gardner and retook the leading exiting turn two. With Ostling now enjoying a comfortable lead over Gardner, Kruseman, who started ninth, took the third position away from Gaunt on the eleventh lap. Six circuits later, Kruseman stuck a wheel under Gardner for second, but unable to pull ahead of his former car. Ostling was ten laps from the finish, and what looked like a certain victory, when he reached lapped traffic. Unfortunately for Ostling, his chances for his eighth career win ended on lap 22 after he bumped Bobby Cody exiting turn four. Cody was sent flipping as a result of the contact, while Ostling came to a stop in the infield with front end damage. Neither driver was injured, and, thanks to some quick work from his crew, Ostling returned to finish eleventh. Using the momentum he built from the turn one cushion, Kruseman blasted his way ahead of Gardner after the restart. Gaunt followed Kruseman and moved the Alexander Trucking #4 Stinger into the second position exiting turn four. Seemingly out of nowhere, Rip Williams, who started 15th, powered past the first three cars and put the Sharon Jory / Tomarco Fasteners #3 Stinger into the lead by the end of the 24 lap. Showing tremendous determination, Kruseman took back the lead entering turn one on the following lap. With Kruseman continuing to run close to the wall and pounding the cushion every lap, Gaunt bought the leader some breathing room after he slipped ahead of Gardner and Williams on lap 26. Gardner, who earlier won the Sander Engineering Fast Time Award, would move back into second place two laps from the finish, but would not have enough time to mount a challenge for his fourth consecutive SCRA win. "It started packing mud up there and we were actually only about three feet from the fence, but you'd go up there and catch that mud and get a nice run off the fence," Kruseman later explained before mentioning a problem that plagued him throughout the race. "For some reason, the motor started shutting off. It did it in the semi a little bit, so we changed the ignition box and it ran about 15 laps before it started shutting off again. It was kind of goofing me up, but after a while I could kind of get the timing down." Gaunt went on to finish third ahead of Williams and the Hal Engstrom / Spenco Machine #44 Ellis driven by Mike Spencer. Rookie of the Year contender Bryan Stanfill placed sixth duplicating his best career SCRA finish, which came earlier in the year at the Thunderbowl Raceway. ### SCRA RACE #13 - THUNDERBOWL RACEWAY, TULARE, CA Date of Race: 06/14/03 SANDER ENGINEERING TIME TRIALS 1. Damion Gardner, Concord CA, Willis 45, 15.642 2. Cory Kruseman, Ventura CA, Witherill 61, 15.715 3. Josh Ford, (R) Camarillo CA, Willis/Ford 54, 16.043 4. Rickie Gaunt, Torrance CA, Alexander 4, 16,081 5. Josh Wise, Riverside CA, Sala 19S, 16.160 6. Steve Ostling, Corona CA, Fischer Mtrspts 29, 16.171 7. Danny Sheridan, Santa Maria CA, Dorathy 21A, 16.262 8. Mike Spencer, Temecula CA, Engstrom 44, 16.309 9. Kevin Urton, Elk Grove CA, Urton 51, 16.441 10. Mike Kirby, Torrance CA, Alexander 4X, 16.470 11. Bryan Stanfill, (R) Bakersfield CA, Lancaster 14, 16.476 12.Troy Rutherford, Ojai CA, Priestley 7, 16.498 13. Alan Ballard, (R) Bakersfield CA, Ballard 97, 16.498 14. Mike Faria, Tipton CA, Faria 4F, 16.539 15. Jimmy Crawford, (R) Ventura CA, Ruth 25, 16.732 16. Rip Williams, Yorba Linda CA, Jory 3, 16.767 17. Richard Griffin, Silver City NM, Chaffin 50, 16.925 18. Rodney Argo, El Segundo CA, Argo 19, 16.953 19. Greg Bragg, (R) Visalia CA, Pratt 12, 17.059 20. Adam Mitchell, Escondido CA, Mitchell 99, 17.059 21. Gary W. Howard, Fontana CA, Keene 84, 17.088 22. Verne Sweeney, Lomita CA, Sweeney 98, 17.141 23. Bobby Cody, Costa Mesa CA, Cody Racing 41, 17.178 24. Davey Key, Fresno CA, Key 15K, 17.276 25. Ron DiDonato, Riverside CA, DiDonato 57, 17.306 26. Mike English, Norwalk CA, Jory 6, 17.505 27. Mark Nation, Los Olivos CA, Nation 3N, 17.820 28. David Sprigg, Sacramento CA, Sprigg 44D, 18.214 29. Mel Murphy, Riverside CA, Murphy 62, 18.848 30. Seth Wilson, (R) San Clemente CA, Racing Optics 17, 20.494 31. Trevor Brilman, (R) Las Vegas NV, Element Mtrspts 10, No Time 32. Brian Venard, Irvine CA, Venard. 47, No Time 33. Tony Jones, Garden Grove CA, Vermeer 2, No Time SO-CAL PERFORMANCE HEAT 1 1. Gary W. Howard, 2. Damion Gardner, 3. Alan Ballard, 4. Richard Griffin, 5. Kevin Urton, 6. Josh Wise, 7. Ron DiDonato, 8. Mel Murphy, SHAVER ENGINES HEAT 2 1. Verne Sweeney, 2. Mike English, 3. Rodney Argo, 4. Steve Ostling, 5. Cory Kruseman, 6. Mike Faria, 7. Mike Kirby, 8. Seth Wilson, SPIN TECH MUFFLERS HEAT 3 1. Jimmy Crawford, 2. Bryan Stanfill, 3. Bobby Cody, 4. Danny Sheridan, 5. Josh Ford, 6. Greg Bragg, 7. Mark Nation, STINGER CHASSIS HEAT 4 1. Rickie Gaunt, 2. Troy Rutherford, 3. Rip Williams, 4. Mike Spencer, 5. Adam Mitchell, 6. David Sprigg, 7. Davey Key, JE PISTONS DASH 1. Steve Ostling. 2. Danny Sheridan. 3. Rickie Gaunt. 4. Damion Gardner. 5. Mike Spencer. 6. Bryan Stanfill. 7. Troy Rutherford. 8. Alan Ballard. SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS B FEATURE 1. Cory Kruseman, 2. Josh Ford, 3. Josh Wise. 4. Mike Kirby. 5. Kevin Urton. 6. Adam Mitchell. 7. Mike Faria. 8. Seth Wilson. 9. Trevor Brilman. 10. Mark Nation. 11. Mel Murphy. 12. Greg Bragg. 13. Ron DiDonato. 14. David Sprigg. 15. Tony Jones. A FEATURE (30 Laps) 1. Cory Kruseman. 2. Damion Gardner. 3. Rickie Gaunt. 4. Rip Williams. S. Mike Spencer. 6. Bryan Stanfill. 7. Mike Kirby. 8. Josh Wise. 9. Richard Griffin. 10. Troy Rutherford. 11. Steve Ostling. 12. Gary W. Howard. 13. Josh Ford. 14. Jimmy Crawford. 15. Verne Sweeney, 16. Danny Sheridan. 17. Mike English. 18. Alan Ballard. 19. Bobby Cody. 20. Rodney Argo. 21. Adam Mitchell, 22. Kevin Urton. Laps Led: Ostling 1-21, Kruseman 22-23, Williams 24, Kruseman 25-30 SCRA POINT STANDINGS as of 6/14/03 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CAR NAME HOMETOWN STARTS POINTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 50 Richard Griffin Silver City NM 12 810 2. 7 Troy Rutherford Ojai CA 12 777 3. 45 Damion Gardner Concord CA 12 772 4. 3 Rip Williams Yorba Linda CA 12 662 5. 29 Steve Ostling Corona CA 12 578 6. 4 Rickie Gaunt Torrance CA 12 571 7. 44 Mike Spencer Temecula CA 12 549 8. 6 Mike English Norwalk CA 12 514 9. 38 Levi Jones Olney IL 8 364 10. 2 Tony Jones Garden Grove CA 11 358 11. 99 Adam Mitchell Escondido CA 11 329 12. 54 Josh Ford (R) Camarillo CA 12 310 13. 61 Cory Kruseman Ventura CA 7 285 14. 14 Bryan Stanfill (R) Bakersfield CA 12 275 15. 98 Verne Sweeney Lomita CA 11 274 16. 47 Brian Venard Irvine CA 8 263 17. 97 Alan Ballard (R) Bakersfield CA 12 251 18. 85 Lance Gremett San Marcos CA 10 241 19. 19 Rodney Argo El Segundo CA 9 221 20. 25 Jimmy Crawford (R) Ventura CA 12 219 |
